New York State Teachers Retirement System Has $149.53 Million Stock Position in American Express Company $AXP

New York State Teachers Retirement System decreased its stake in shares of American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 468,788 shares of the payment services company’s stock after selling 17,279 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in American Express were worth $149,534,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AXP. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Express during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,454,667,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of American Express by 13.7% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 18,025,562 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $4,849,777,000 after acquiring an additional 2,168,445 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of American Express by 25.5% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,752,690 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,278,711,000 after acquiring an additional 965,221 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of American Express by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 45,843,893 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $12,334,299,000 after acquiring an additional 605,900 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Provident Trust Co. acquired a new position in shares of American Express during the 1st quarter worth approximately $126,119,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.33% of the company’s stock.

American Express Stock Performance

NYSE:AXP opened at $330.75 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $324.08 and a 200-day moving average price of $301.19. The company has a market cap of $230.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.21, a PEG ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a current ratio of 1.61. American Express Company has a fifty-two week low of $220.43 and a fifty-two week high of $349.19.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last released its earnings results on Friday, July 18th. The payment services company reported $4.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.86 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $17.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.70 billion. American Express had a return on equity of 32.87% and a net margin of 14.78%.The company’s revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.49 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that American Express Company will post 15.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $0.82 per share. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. American Express’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.02%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Anna Marrs sold 5,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $310.77, for a total transaction of $1,709,235.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 20,311 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,312,049.47. This represents a 21.31% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Glenda G. Mcneal sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.50, for a total value of $15,475,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 10,957 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,391,191.50. This trade represents a 82.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 269,996 shares of company stock worth $85,261,270. 0.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a report on Monday, July 14th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on American Express from $350.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of American Express in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $327.00 price target (up from $300.00) on shares of American Express in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded American Express from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $323.60.

American Express Company Profile

American Express Company, together with its subsidiaries, operates as integrated payments company in the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, the Asia Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, Latin America, Canada, the Caribbean, and Internationally. It operates through four segments: U.S. Consumer Services, Commercial Services, International Card Services, and Global Merchant and Network Services.